A Generous Gesture Meets Reality
When I read earlier
today that Uber had burnt through their AI budget for the year 2026 in just
four months, I did wonder whether that burn rate had produced commensurate
productivity gains to have made it worthwhile. According to the CTO, the
headline figure suggests otherwise; else, it might have been less concerning. [Quartz: Uber's
COO says the company's AI spending is getting harder to justify]
In the same vein,
news has emerged that Microsoft is scaling back internal Claude Code licences,
indicating that reliance on this toolset has burnt through budgets and
forecasts to become an unsustainable revenue drain. [MSN:
Microsoft retreats from Claude Code as AI costs soar]
My Poe Setup
I use Poe as my interface to a broad range of bots,
grouped under official, budget-friendly, search, image, video, audio, and
programming categories. My monthly subscription comes with 1,000,000 points
and, despite my usage, I would consider myself a tad frugal. I barely use
75,000 points before the month is out.
For value, access to
premium services across many platforms through one interface is, for me, the
best deal you can get in AI access and provision. There might be better offers
out there, but I am quite satisfied with what I have been using for over two years.
Sharing the Largesse
In demonstrating the
features of Poe a few days ago, I discovered that I could share my points with
up to 99 others: family, friends, or colleagues. I assumed such sharing would
carry the kind of usage and frugality of one gentle owner of a vintage car, with
little mileage on the clock, and much to enjoy if the pleasure of driving were
shared with another.
How wrong I was. In
the space of three days, an invitee had already burnt through more than half of
the monthly allocation. At that rate, there would be no points left to do
anything in another two days. I was in shock. People are doing things with AI
bots that it seems I am yet to discover, even when I think my own use of this
facility is quite involved.
A Cold Blast of
Reality
What to do? I shared
a graphic illustration of the spending activity with the invitee, along with a
note about how the burn rate puts the idea of fair use into precarity. Beyond
that, sharing this largesse based on my frugality cannot be representative of
its usage in reality.
Poe only shows the
daily usage of points of those with whom the points have been shared, and we
all have full access to the pool. As the administrator, I have two options: to
share or to remove. Whilst I have not opted for the nuclear option, my enthusiasm
for generosity has met a cold blast of the actualité.
Weighing the Options
I could purchase
add-on points that are usable for one year, and are not refundable,
transferable, or redeemable for cash. However, I want to hope we are not at a
crisis point, just a spot of bother and concern.
What is not helpful
is the sudden realisation that what looked like abundance could easily become
scarce, like a swarm of locusts swooping down on a field close to harvest
season. That is devastation on a grand scale; it is the kind of mindset one can
ill afford to have.
The thought that I
must monitor the points I have left, out of concern that my modest subscription
will not last the month, is not the prospect I planned for. Then again, I
cannot even share this with Brian, my husband, because the service is not
available in Zimbabwe. What luck!